Antony Flew
An assertion that nothing could count against asserts nothing: this is the question he puts to believers with the parable of the invisible gardener.
Life
British philosopher (1923-2010), a professor at Keele and later Reading, among others. In 'Theology and Falsification' (1950) he asks believers what could count against their claims, using the parable of the invisible gardener. He later defended the presumption of atheism (1976), then around 2004 said he believed in a deist God, without any revealed religion.
Main works
An assertion that nothing could count against loses all content.
One should start from atheism and ask believers to justify their belief.
An account, written with Roy Abraham Varghese, of his change of mind toward a deist God.
In his own words
« A fine brash hypothesis may thus be killed by inches, the death by a thousand qualifications. »
« But what remains of your original assertion? Just how does what you call an invisible, intangible, eternally elusive gardener differ from an imaginary gardener or even from no gardener at all? »
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceHe argued for a 'presumption of atheism' (1972), then in 2004 said he now accepted a deistic God; the change is disputed.
Flew, The Presumption of Atheism (1976); There Is a God (2007)
He follows Hume: claims about the world must be answerable to experience.
Flew, Hume's Philosophy of Belief (1961)
A religious claim that nothing could count against says nothing; belief must face evidence.
Flew, 'Theology and Falsification' (1950)